Owners Phillis Engelbert and Joel Panozzo announced in an email to customers and on their Facebook on Saturday that they've secured a restaurant space.

The duo has operated The Lunch Room at downtown Ann Arbor's outdoor food courtyard Mark's Carts for the past two seasons.

They posted a picture on Facebook of them signing a lease for the space — although they have yet to disclose the location.

“The Lunch Room has a restaurant announcement,” the email says. “You can hear details first at a special Happy Hour event.”

With 300 vegan cookies in tow, the duo plans to reveal the details of the new restaurant at 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 4 at downtown Ann Arbor’s Cafe Habana. Socializing starts at 5:30 p.m.

“Drinks on you, cookies on us!” the email says.

Downtown Home and Garden owner Mark Hodesh launched Mark’s Carts in May 2011 on a 2,700-square-foot parcel of land behind his retail store. The courtyard has already served as a springboard for food vendor eat, which opened a restaurant on Packard in September 2011.

Next-door-neighbors and vegan foodies Engelbert and Panozzo started hosting private group meals in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti in 2010. They later launched a Kickstarter campaign to help them open their food cart.

Comments

Please don't let 'vegan' keep you away. I am an omnivore; The food served by The Lunch Box is simply delicious. Best wishes to Phillis and Joel.

Arboriginal

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 7:42 p.m.

How do you know if somebody is vegan?

Arboriginal

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 8:26 p.m.

The food is FANTASTIC!
Great people as well, and I know they will succeed in making many folks very happy.
I just had to post the joke!

Jessica Webster

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 8:15 p.m.

Don't worry, they'll tell you! (insert rimshot here)
But seriously, I am not even vegetarian and I LOVE the food at the Lunch Room. I love dairy as much as ... no, strike that ... more than the average girl. But I don't miss it in their food.

Ryan J. Stanton

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 7:35 p.m.

Ann Arbor's food scene just got a lot better. This easily will be my new favorite restaurant in town. I can't recall ever tasting better food than the dishes Phillis Engelbert and Joel Panozzo are able to whip up on a consistent basis at the Lunch Room. They always amaze me.

@Peregrine -
All of those things sound great with a burger - especially if the fries/chips/onion rings were cooked up in animal lard.

Peregrine

Tue, Feb 5, 2013 : 1:25 a.m.

That's such an odd thing to say. French fries, potato chips, and onion rings, for example, are vegan; not that they're healthy. Think through what you ate in the last week, and I'll bet many items were vegan.

Lovaduck

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 5:50 p.m.

Congratulations to them both. I know &quot;vegan&quot; is the healthiest food and all the &quot;animal&quot; arguments, but I simply do not enjoy eating it and never will. I wish them both good luck, however, since their constituency is growing!

Ryan J. Stanton

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 7:26 p.m.

Have you ever tried any of their food?

Bob Needham

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 4:20 p.m.

So great to see local food businesses start out as a cart and graduate to a permanent space. Congratulations to the owners.

Jessica Webster

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 4:22 p.m.

eat is another Mark's Carts success story. I love having them in my neighborhood. http://eatannarbor.com/carryout.php

billchase2

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 3:41 p.m.

I'm really excited about this. The Lunch Room is excellent, if you're vegan or not. I will definitely be checking out their new restaurant when it opens and recommend that everyone else does too!

jcj

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 3:18 p.m.

Congratulations. Have never ate there and probably won't. But it is good to here they are doing well.

a2xarob

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 8:36 p.m.

I've never eaten there either, but am glad to hear I'll have a chance to now!

Rici

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 3:04 p.m.

yay for the cookies!

Julie Halpert

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 4:34 p.m.

Ditto!

HB11

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 1:15 p.m.

Good news for them! AA.com, shouldn't the caption under their photo read 2011, and not 2012 as when they started at Mark's Carts?

Lizzy Alfs

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 1:32 p.m.

Indeed! Thank you.

Jessica Webster

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 1:07 p.m.

It will be a happy day when I am reunited with their vegan pad Thai! Can't wait.

48104

Mon, Feb 4, 2013 : 12:57 p.m.

I'm not even vegan, but I have gotten lunch there a couple times because the food is really tasty.